“The camera focuses on a small section of rubble, which moves ever so slightly. Then a hand emerges, nearly obscured by dust. The hand grabs a sharp edge of concrete, and holds tight. More debris moves, and a person eases out, so covered in dirt that every part of them—body, face, clothes, shoes—are all the same color.
https://kriswrites.com/2020/12/16/business-musings-wreckage-2020-in-review/
The camera pans back, shows what’s left of the building, then the street, then the neighborhood, then the city…and on and on and on until we see the country, the oceans, the entire world. Rubble, ruin, disaster.
Amidst it all, though, are intact buildings, beacons of light.”
That quote was taken from the start of a brilliant article by Kristine Kathryn Rusch in which she tries to make sense of the year that was. It’s the first article in what will become a series, and I strongly suggest that all my writer friends read it because Rusch has her finger on the pulse of publishing, both Indie and Traditional.
In fact, that’s one reason I began following Rusch’s Business Musings in the first place; she knows the publishing industry inside and out because she’s been both a traditionally published author and an Indie. This is her bio on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristine_Kathryn_Rusch
It’s thanks to Rusch that I stopped [secretly] hankering for an agent and a publisher. I may never become a rich and famous Indie, but her knowledge of the industry made me realise I wouldn’t have become a rich and famous published author either. The key difference, however, is that as an Indie I retain my rights to my work.
Is that important? I believe it’s vital because nothing on the internet ever goes away, and ‘sleepers’ abound, sleepers such as Andy Weir’s The Martian. The book was self published and hung around for years, not doing very much, until it suddenly became a hit and was turned into a movie. I know because I read it before it became a hit. And that gives me hope. Innerscape may not be setting the world on fire now, but in 20 or 30 or 50 years that may change. Vanity, I know, but I like to think that at some point, real world technology will catch up to the tech in Innerscape and then…then my Offspring may reap the benefits that I cannot. Posthumous fame and fortune isn’t so bad. 😉
Anyway, the important thing is to be informed. The old paradigms have shifted, and they’re still shifting, especially for Indie authors. Ditch the rose coloured spectacles and see the world of publishing for what it is:
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Business Musings: https://kriswrites.com/2020/12/16/business-musings-wreckage-2020-in-review/
cheers
Meeks
December 23rd, 2020 at 12:33 am
Ah, I don’t know, Meeks, I sort of like my look with rose tinted specs. I’m also fine with post humus fame though. Look at Emily Bronte.
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December 23rd, 2020 at 9:56 am
LMAO! My specs are very school-marmish! Totally agree re Bronte. If that happened to me I’d be the world’s first tap-dancing ghost. 😀
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December 20th, 2020 at 4:01 pm
I only found The Martian after it became famous 🙂 … what did you think of it?
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December 21st, 2020 at 8:27 am
I loved the ‘hard’ scifi aspect of the story, but I was disappointed with the characterisation. I know the MC probably didn’t have time or energy for a great deal of navel gazing, but his reaction to disaster after disaster was a bit too…stoic?
But then my favourite stories are all character driven so no real surprises there. Have you seen the movie? With everything that’s happened this year, I just haven’t got around to it. Interested to know if the movie brought the character out a bit more.
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December 21st, 2020 at 11:09 am
I have, and enjoyed it. He actually has a personality. 😀 … worth a watch. 🙂
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December 22nd, 2020 at 9:43 am
That’s good. Sometimes film adaptations can actually make the story better! I’ll try to see it on Netflix if the Offspring still has it.
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December 20th, 2020 at 7:58 am
Thanks for the recommendation and connection, Andrea. And by the way, I love the way “going indie” is no longer a reaction to rejection but a first choice. I love your hope of discovery. Why not? Now I’m following your link and heading over to read Kristine’s article. ❤
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December 20th, 2020 at 10:27 am
lol – I have to confess that I did do one submission. I ummed and aahed over it, but finally sent Voktah off a Harper Something? scifi open submission call. Didn’t get accepted, of course, but it settled the nagging sense I’d had of ‘am I not submitting because I really don’t like the system, or because I’m just afraid of rejection?’ Principles have to be tested. 🙂
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December 20th, 2020 at 11:13 am
I’ve thought about it, but I didn’t have a great experience with trad publishing, so I’d want a top agent which isn’t likely to land in my lap. And honestly… I don’t care enough. Hehe.
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December 21st, 2020 at 8:30 am
Aaah. I knew you’d been published, but I didn’t know why you left. If Rusch is right, and I’d be surprised if she wasn’t, agents are even worse than publishers for ripping their clients off.
I’m glad you’re an Indie. 🙂
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December 21st, 2020 at 9:09 am
I didn’t feel ripped off, but they didn’t really add much value. Marketing was still up to me but they were against discounts so I couldn’t promote. I’ve learned how to do everything they did, and with the greater revenue, I can afford things like professional covers and advertising. It’s a long story, but the gist is I LOVE being an indie.
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December 22nd, 2020 at 9:54 am
That’s a long story I’d love to read, Diana. Apart from Rusch, and maybe Hugh Howey, I haven’t come across many successful Indies who explain why they became Indies. I think a lot of new writers would benefit from knowing how the Trad. Pub. system actually works because their expectations are based on fantasies. 😦
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December 23rd, 2020 at 1:50 am
I’ll have to rerun my pro and con posts in January (including graphs!) lol. Yes, complete fantasies unless someone lands one of the big publishing houses or has an amazing streak of luck.
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December 23rd, 2020 at 9:55 am
Yes please! I don’t remember reading any of those kind of posts on your blog so I’d be really interested in your experiences.
I have an Aussie friend who writes rural romance for one of the Big Trads and they control her content to a degree I did not expect. I think she’s now branching out into Indie-ish territory in order to be able to write some stories with a free hand.
Not all champagne and roses.
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December 23rd, 2020 at 1:26 pm
I didn’t even think of that aspect. Yes, indie all the way!
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December 24th, 2020 at 9:49 am
Too right, mate. 😀
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December 19th, 2020 at 11:30 am
It’s a funny thing, I was just mentioning to somebody the other day that the image of full-time writers is of being able to get up around noon, sashay over to the poolside for a few martinis, casually type a few dozen words through the afternoon, then on to dinner with friends. Sigh…
The rights issue is critical to writers. I made a particular point of retrieving all my licenses from Penguin Random House when their big-business corporate behaviour got to the point where I wasn’t prepared to work with them – they breached three contracts on the trot, unilaterally and knowing that as a poor author I wasn’t going to take them to court for it (I wasn’t the only one). They did, however, return all my IP to me. I did hear of other authors who never got theirs back during the reshuffle of the ‘big six/five’ a few years back – leading to situations where several books I’m aware of are being sold in new editions without a cent going back to the actual author. Ouch.
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December 20th, 2020 at 7:58 am
Oh my god…I know I shouldn’t be surprised, yet I am. The big corporations really have turned into Robber Barons, and the whole setup is starting to feel more feudal by the day.
I first started being aware of the corruption of corporations about twenty years ago when I read Kim Stanley Robinson’s fictional work, but I thought he was…exaggerating. -sigh-
I’m really glad you managed to claw back your IP – Intellectual Property to non-writers out there – but who are you with now? And are you hanging on to that IP?
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December 19th, 2020 at 7:23 am
It was probably your reading of it that made “The Martian” a hit. So you’ve already accomplished something.
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December 19th, 2020 at 8:24 am
lol – thank you! I’ll take my bows where I find them. 😀
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December 19th, 2020 at 8:28 am
You’re welcome.
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December 19th, 2020 at 8:48 am
🙂
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